


four questions

by awesomems



Series: passover 2020 / pesach 5780 challenge [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: 1940s, Fluff, Jewish Bucky Barnes, Jewish Gabe Jones, Jewish Steve Rogers, M/M, Marriage Proposal, Pesach | Passover, World War II, apparently that's not an official tag smh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-10
Updated: 2020-04-10
Packaged: 2021-02-23 04:42:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,021
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23572555
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/awesomems/pseuds/awesomems
Summary: Bucky comes up with a different, unscripted answer for how this night is different from all others.The Four Questions: In a traditional Passover Seder, the maggid (the story of the Exodus from Egypt) is begun by the youngest person at the Seder asking these questions, which provide the impetus for explaining why the nights of Passover are different from all other nights.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers
Series: passover 2020 / pesach 5780 challenge [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1695439
Kudos: 29





	four questions

**Author's Note:**

> if you didn’t already know and would like to follow along, [here](https://reformjudaism.org/jewish-holidays/passover/four-questions) are the four questions, along with their [answers](https://www.chabad.org/holidays/passover/pesach_cdo/aid/511100/jewish/Answers-to-the-4-Questions.htm)

The Howling Commandos set up camp in the French countryside to rest, after receiving intel about HYDRA agents in the area earlier that day. Morita had managed to swipe a bottle of red wine and passed it around.

“Perfect timing,” Gabe said, pouring the wine into his mess cup. “Passover starts tonight.” 

“Passover?” Monty asked.

“The Feast of Unleavened Bread, major Jewish holiday,” Steve filled everyone in.

"You're also commanded to drink a lot of wine," Bucky said, pouring his own cup. 

"That's my kinda holiday," Dum Dum chimed in.

Steve continued to explain, “Yeah, if things were normal, we’d be sitting around Barnes’ family’s table for the Seder tonight.” He nudged Bucky’s shoulder at that, hoping the happy memories would override the homesickness, at least for a bit. 

“Maybe Stella would ask the Four Questions,” he reminisced. 

“ _Mah nishtanah halailah hazeh, halailah hazeh, mikol halailot?_ ” Steve sung, getting a smile from Bucky.

~~~

_George Barnes passed out the tattered old copies of the Haggadah, grateful they had enough, seeing that their Seder table was a little larger than previous years, as it included his own family of six, the two Rogers (who were practically family anyways), and the Levins, who had a daughter that was Steve and Bucky’s age and were friends._

_The children at the table were getting excited, since they always made a big show of the telling of the story of the Exodus. Even Bucky and Elisa Levin, who had recently had their bar and bat mitzvahs, because even though they were technically adults according to_ halakha _, they were children in every other aspect._

_Winnie Barnes helped Stella, their youngest child at eight years of age, locate the part of the Haggadah with the Four Questions she would ask, as she was still learning the Hebrew._

~~~

“What are the Four Questions?” Morita asked.

“Series of, almost rhetorical, questions, to which all the answers are ‘slavery’ and ‘freedom,’ asking how this night of Passover is different from all other nights, which is what Rogers just said in Hebrew,” Gabe answered. “Like, on all other nights, we eat _chametz_ and matzah. Why, tonight, only matzah?” 

“Matzah was the bread of slaves and the poor, but it’s also about how the bread didn’t have time to rise before the Jews left Egypt,” Bucky recited from memory, after years of reading that same response from his family’s Haggadah. 

They went through the other three questions and their responses, and while the nostalgia (if it could be considered as such, as it had only been a year since his last Seder with his family, though it felt like longer) was a welcome distraction from his current anxiety, feeling like the ring he had was burning a hole in his pocket. 

~~~

_His mother had given it to him, it having been her mother’s, before she came to New York. “You need it more than I do. Go make it official,” she had said._

_“_ Mamme _, what are you talking about?” He had asked, and she had put down whatever she was doing and gave him such a_ look _that only mothers are known to give._

 _“You know. Remind Steve that he’s welcome over anytime.” All the blood drained out of his face and he had to sit down. How did she know? Him and Steve had taken every precaution to make sure that no one ever knew, not in the time they lived in. “_ _Relax_ , boychik _. I knew the day you brought that boy home, it was like you had set your heart in his hands. So, take this ring, and ask for his hand, even if it’s only a symbol.”_

~~~

As the sun set, and the rest of their team dispersed, some to their tents and some to take watch, Bucky pulled Steve aside, on the other side of some trees, where he was confident enough no one would interrupt them.

“Why’d you wanna meet over here ― Woah,” Steve cut himself off.

“What?”

“You can really see the sunset from here.” The setting sun dyed the sky a rose hue, with violet marking the sinuous line where sky met earth and mountains. The landscape seemed to reflect in his eyes, joining the sense of pure wonder that Bucky already saw there. “Anyways, what’d you wanna talk about?”

He took a deep breath, mourning the loss of his chance to rehearse in his head, but going on after some of his confidence was renewed by reminding himself why he was doing this. “Steve, when you first sang ‘Ma Nishtanah’, it kinda, stuck in my head for a bit. Like, why _is_ this night different than all the others? Besides the reasons we all know. It’s because, well, I love you more than anything, you know that. You’re kind, you’re funny, and when you care about something or someone you care with your _whole being_ . And ― and, you’re _it_ for me, I hope you know that, too. I ― G-d, maybe I should’ve written this down first―” 

“No, no, it’s okay.” Steve currently had the biggest smile Bucky had ever seen him wear on his face, which served to motivate him to finish off the rest of his ill-prepared proposal speech.

“What I’m tryna say, Stevie, is if we ― no, _when_. When we get outta here, will you marry me?” 

“‘Course I will. Dunno what you were gettin’ so nervous for.” 

“You know? I don’t even remember.” Bucky undid the clasp on the chain running through the ring, so Steve could wear it under his shirt, close to his heart. His own previously racing heart was now completely calm, even though he thought he would’ve been more excited that this fantasy he’d had for years about proposing was finally real. 

But no, they were completely at peace as they held each other close (and Steve pushed away the anxious thought of wondering what they would do if they _didn’t_ make it out alive). No fast heartbeats, or shaky and sweaty hands, just _calm_ that could be felt in every facet of their being, as the sun set below the horizon, welcoming the holiday with amber tones lingering.

**Author's Note:**

> i was thinking of [this painting](https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0hWgoQUgiCk/W8jwbYRAfyI/AAAAAAAAWhc/em8M0bpjgHk6G14KdsXdgXmXEFISGDJlwCLcBGAs/s1600/French%2BCountrysideatsunset%2B16x20%2BSheri%2BJones.jpg) by sheri jones while writing the landscape descriptions
> 
> kudos and comments are appreciated!


End file.
